KC from Casey

Two narrow defeats in a row have placed the Casey Demons in the precarious position whereby they must beat the Brisbane Lions at Casey Fields on Sunday to avoid a wild card playoff for teams finishing 7th to 10th.

Carlton hold on to win by 8 points after Casey’s wasteful display in front of goals in the second half. CASEY DEMONS 2.1.13 6.2.38 8.10.58 9.15.69 CARLTON VFL 2.3.15 7.5.47 9.11.65 11.11.77 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Brown Buntine Dunstan Grey Jefferson Laurie McDonald Spargo White CARLTON VFL Cahill 4 Ronke 2 Akeui Boyd Crocker Honey McMahon BEST CASEY DEMONS Dunstan Laurie Spargo Tomlinson Woewodin Buntine CARLTON VFL Binns Boyd Young Cowan Ronke O’Brien Statistics Jed Adams 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 1 tackles 40 dream team points Kynan Brown 1 goal 1 behind 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 43 dream team points Matt Buntine 1 goal 1 behind 10 kicks 9 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 86 dream team points Luke Dunstan 1 goal 16 kicks 22 handballs 38 disposals 7 marks tackles 149 dream team points Kyah Farris-White 1 handball 1 disposal 1 tackle 6 hit outs 12 dream team points Tom Freeman 9 kicks 3 handballs 12 disposals 7 marks 1 tackles 58 dream team points George Grey 1 goal 1 behind kicks handballs disposals marks tackles dream team points James Harmes 15 kicks 15 handballs 30 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 82 dream team points Matt Jefferson 1 goal 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 6 marks 48 dream team points Bailey Laurie 1 goal 13 kicks 16 handballs 29 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 109 dream team points Tom McDonald 1 goal 4 kicks 6 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 9 hit outs 60 dream team points Tom McRae 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 48 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 1 behind 8 kicks 8 handballs 16 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 71 dream team points James Munro 1 behind 4 kicks 14 handballs 18 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 63 dream team points Josh Schache 3 behinds 6 kicks 4 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 36 dream team points Deaykin Smith 4 kicks 6 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 46 dream team points Charlie Spargo 1 goal 16 kicks 12 handballs 28 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 105 dream team points Roan Steele 1 behind 5 kicks 7 handballs 12 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 47 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 23 kicks 4 handballs 27 disposals 8 marks 2 tackles 104 dream team points Kye Turner 4 kicks 1 handballs 5 disposals 14 dream team points Will Verrall 2 kicks 8 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 17 hit outs 43 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 10 kicks 3 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 61 dream team points Taj Woewoedin 1 behind 12 kicks 13 handballs 25 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 92 dream team points

Blues lead back to 10 points after goaling with their second i50 in 18 minutes.

TMac marks and goals - Casey’s first after a run of 11 behinds.

For the first six minutes Casey dominated but couldn’t score - Blues go forward once and goal.

Three Quarter Time Carlton VFL 9.11.65 lead Casey Demons 8.10.58 Goals Brown Buntine Dunstan Grey Jefferson Laurie Spargo White Disposals Dunstan Spargo 24 Laurie Tomlinson 23 Woewoedin 22

Goal to the Blues puts them 10 points up.

Gray goals to make it 3 points.

Jefferson gets his first after a nice passage of play after taking advantage in the back half.

Half Time Carlton VFL 7.5.47 lead Casey Demons 6.2.38 Goals Brown Buntine Dunstan Laurie Spargo White Disposals Dunstan 21 Spargo 17 Laurie 16 Woewoedin 15 Munro 14

Laurie scores and it’s an 8 point game.

Nice pass from Jefferson to Buntine for Casey’s 5th and they’re back to 14 points down.

Quick response from Cahill of the Blues who kicks his fourth.

Dunstan marks and goal - Casey down by 14 points.

Much needed goal to the skipper but Casey trail by 20 points

Blues getting on top again - 28 to 14.

Quarter Time Carlton 2.3.15 Casey Demons 2.1.13 Goals Brown Spargo Disposals Dunstan 9 Laurie Spargo 8 Harmes Munro 7

Kynan Brown around the body for Casey’s second.

Charlie Spargo kicks Casey’s first 7 - 15

Demons starting slowly - Carlton 1.2.8 - Casey 0.0.0

Game just got under way. Tom McRae replaced Michael Hibberd in the Casey team.

The VFL is still a thing and, following their disappointing one point home defeat at the hands of Williamstown before the bye, the Casey Demons travel to Ikon Park to take on the Blues knowing that they have to win one of their two remaining matches to finish in the top six and avoid a wild card match in the group of 7th to 10th.

The limited fixture this weekend will suit a few of the teams in the race for “wild card” positions. Casey needs to win a couple of their remaining games to do that.

The VFL system is broken if teams play two matches over four rounds to accommodate a bye. This is especially so when clubs vying for finals places need to give all their players the best chance of getting a game. According to Simon Goodwin, there won't even be a scratch match - just extra training to give the players an opportunity to run the usual distance and carry normal match workloads. Still – bad luck for those on the cusp of selection like Brodie Grundy, Charlie Spargo, and a few others.

Perhaps but under the VFL’s new finals system that gives teams finishing 7 to 10 a wild card game, the Demons are at peril of finishing there if they drop another game. As it is, it’s going to be tough winning the flag from outside the top four with two interstate teams occupying positions there.